On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that (UT), the case on UT Austin鈥檚 race-conscious admissions policy, be sent back to an appeals court for further scrutiny.聽The case stemmed from a lawsuit by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant to the university who claimed she was unfairly rejected due to UT Austin鈥檚 affirmative action admissions program. For more background on this case, please see our previous two posts, found and .
The court鈥檚 7-to-1 decision did not provide a direct answer about the constitutionality of UT Austin鈥檚 admissions practices. Instead, it ordered the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to reconsider the case on the grounds that the appeals court had failed to apply “strict scrutiny” (a rigorous standard requiring that both an important goal and a close fit between means and ends be identified) in its review of the case and subsequent ruling in favor of UT.聽Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the only dissenting voice; she argued that the appeals court was right to support UT鈥檚 policies.
According to the , Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority that courts reviewing affirmative action programs must, 鈥渧erify that it is necessary for a university to use race to achieve the educational benefits of diversity.鈥� This necessitates, he said, 鈥渁 careful judicial inquiry into whether a university could achieve sufficient diversity without using racial classifications.鈥�
The Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling did not displace its 2003 decision in , which found educational diversity to be of sufficient importance to overcome the government鈥檚 standard ban on racial consideration. However, as reports, legal experts believe the court鈥檚 demanding 鈥渟trict scrutiny鈥� requirements will make it difficult for UT and many other institutions to successfully defend their use of race in admissions.
The debates surrounding Fisher v. UT and affirmative action in higher education as a whole are far from over. Many expect the Texas case to return to the Supreme Court after a new review by the appeals court.聽 We will keep you posted with any updates.